Pictures of Kuala Lipis in 2010

Road to Kuala Lipis. Lipis Roundabout in-front of the district office 

As you approach Kuala Lipis, the sign will welcome you

If you take the left, it will take you to Jerantut, a small town about 50 km, Jerantut is the gateway to taman negara, the national park.

two ways to Taman Rimba Kenong

The First Building You Will see the Kuala Lipis Government office. It is strategically located on a hill top overlooking The Clifford School and The Pahang Club across the field.

Colonial Heritage, The District Office 

You notice the basic structure, with the arches, although they are covered with glass to enable airconditioning.

Nursing Home - From the colonial past

This nursing home is the original building build by the British in the early 1900. Kuala Lipis was the capital of Pahang and the hospital was the state's hospital. It share the same hill as the Pahang Club and the District Officer Residential Building.

The Kuala Lipis Hospital

The hospital in Kuala Lipis showing the extension building with modern design.

Dirt Bike Track - a day in history

A scene at Kuala Lipis, Dirt Bikes Competition, at Tasik Burung Mandi, 45 km from Kuala Lipis.




Taman Tasik Burung Mandi

Taman Tasik Burung Mandi was the center of attraction for the dirt bikes enthusiasts both from Malaysia as well as the international teams. It is situated about 45 km from Kuala Lipis.
The circuit is located in the 200 acre recreational park consisting of 4 man made lakes from the old mining works. The surrounding jungle is full of tropical flora and fauna. As suited to its name, you can find hundreds of species of wild birds for those interested in bird watching.

This was the pride of the local population,where the folks worked voluntarily to help the making of the events. For unknown reason, the competition stopped and the track and all the facilities left abandoned. It is now become one of the histories of Kuala Lipis.

Kuala Lipis Paradise, the new cinema

Kuala Lipis is a town in Malaysia. In 1960s and 70s, it was at the end of the road, because at that time the road to Kelantan was not built yet. So the town was very quiet. The only mean of entertainment was the cinema.... The Paradise.

The first cinema was built at Jelai Street. I remember watching the first movie, with my untie, it was arabic movie. I think it is about Saladin... or Salahuddin, the Muslim warrior that recapture Baitul Mukkadis. Then it moved to its bigger and better location, the purpose built cinema, across the railway gate crossing.

When I was school at Clifford, Sunday was the free day, that mean we can go out but we must wear the school uniform. So you can see rows of students walking towards the cinema. There was the cheap show in those days. I think it was called cheap matinee... it cost less than 1 ringgit. As we did not have much money, so we target those sessions.

Another habit that may surprise you... in those days, nobody knows how to line up and take turn. When the tickets booth was opened, people will rush and pushed and fight their way to buy the tickets. Some end up with bruises and thorn shirt. They take pride and telling friends how clever and strong the were, able to push other people for the tickets.

 
    

Kuala Lipis Honored by Najib's Visit

KUALA LIPIS was witnessing the return of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to his birth place.

Najib was born on July 23, 1953 when his father, the late Tun Razak was living in Kuala Lipis. Najib was accompanied by his wife, Rosmah, later visited the house where he was born at Bukit Buis. The house is now being used as the official residence of the Pahang state secretary. Najib's pictures as he was growing up were put on display at the house.

Najib expressed his gratitude to the local leaders for arranging the celebration and wanted them to continue to play their to assist in the development of the people. He stressed that the majority of the voters are getting more educated and they do not belong to any political parties and their votes will be given based on policies, issues, current leadership and whether a political party was fighting for their cause or not.

Najib is Pekan member of parliament, said he was moved when he was offered to contest the Pekan parliamentary seat in the 2004 general election despite the less than encouraging result in the previous poll. In the 1999 general election, Najib won with a 241-vote majority, mainly from the aboriginal votes..

His trip to Kuala Lipis reminded him of the childhood place of growing up.

siti nurhaliza

Siti Nurhaliza is one of the top vocalist from Malaysia. She is from Kuala Lipis and  she had made the people of the town proud.
I include the video from youtube.

Kuala Lipis Facing Changes

Kuala Lipis is no exception, it has to change to thrive and survive. But, what are the price he has to pay for this?. Who are winners and the losers?. How the decision was made? and how was it implemented?.

Probably it is worth to view some of the bigger projects in the capital city kuala lumpur and see whether it can relate to Kuala Lipis.

One of the major investment for Kuala Lumpur was its Transport System. Transportation forms the necessary component of production, consuming about 10% of the resources. Even for a job that supplies services rather that physical goods will incur a certain amount of transport charges, job like teachers or lecturers will have the transport elements included, at least the cost of transporting the teachers to the school or colleges.

About 10 years ago kuala lumpur embarked on the LRT and Monorail Projects. Let is examine these project based on our logic and without the research and data. Let us ask some basic questions:

1. Is the project required? . Is there a better alternatives?

2. If required, what are the different ways it can be implemented?

3. What are cost and benefits, the winners and losers?

4. How was the decision made?


(4) These are the characteristic of Malaysian Decision Makings
a.Its tendency to incline towards dictatorism, if there is such a word. I believe that there are basic reasons for this, the desire to impose ones belief or views and for the other parties, the game on wanting to please the boss.

b. Absence of sense of Accountability and Responsibility.
c. Lack of focus on value and cost and time. Normally, a project of high value and high cost is expected to take longer to decide and plan. Priority of project selection are based to specified agenda which is related to the future value for the people of the nation. It is sad to see some people who were suppose to lead with responsibility wanted to build a building so that other people will write in their newspaper that Malaysia has the tallest building. Very soon, other will build a taller buildings.

This methodology had created blunders that cost Malaysia billions of Ringgit and affect our economic and cultural positions for generations to come.


The New Bus Station

In 2008, the bus station was changed to a new location across the river together with the daily market. This had brought outcries from the local visitors as well as the residents.

It make so much sense before. The railway station is there, people can get down from the train, and walk to the market or the bus station to continue their journey. Everything is within the easy reach. Now, the bus station is about 2 km away, so for the majority of the people, it will be long walk in the blazing hot sun.

The Changing Landscape
The visitors in 1970s will remember, Kuala Lipis as a small town with only two streets, The Main Street and Jelai Street with another walking path perpendicular  right at the center. Now the town had doubled it size, a tall bridge was built across the river, River Jelai, enabling route for travelers to Kelantan. Previously, they have to pass through Padang Tengku.

A groups of shops house were built on what used to be a field across the railway lines. Now, across the river, a new township is being built. The daily market and the bus station were moved to the new area, causing the original Kuala Lipis to loss customers and business.

The only cinema is now longer in demand, thanks to the new DVDs home entertainment system, the TV and Satellite system.


Back to Home Page: http://kuala-lipis-pahang.blogspot.com/

Bukit Betong Kuala Lipis

Bukit Betong is small village located about 26 km by road from Kuala Lipis. It used to be the transit point for the transportation of the products collected from the surrounding of River Jelai (Sungai Jelai). The goods were transported by river from as far as Kuala Medang, floated on a raft or small boat to the jetty at Bukit Betong, then by rail to Kuala Lipis or other destination.

Attractions of Bukit Betong
Nowadays, with the availability of a better road system, the river is no longer used. The jetty is left abundant and the railway is of lesser important. Before 1980, railway was used as the main mode of transport. There were 3 daily trains from Chekar Perah to Kuala Lipis. The earlies were at 0630 hrs in the morning. This morning train was scheduled to allow students to attend the school at Kuala Lipis. The returning train was at 1430hrs, after the school sessions. As the number of passengers was high, sometime, all the seats were occupied. If you are not lucky, you may have to stand all the way from Kuala Lipis. What I like about the small station is the buildings that was built by the colonial British. The barn built in 1940s is still in good condition today.

In the heyday of the railway, there were two staff to man the station. I still remember the Indian porter, getting the lanterns ready to light the signalling system.
 

The other attraction of Bukit Betong is the railway bridge. It is the old fashion bridge built from wrought iron, and the center pillar was constructed from millions of earth-bricks. You can seen the foot path for the pedestrian made from 5 planks of iron without and safety railings. This is the path taken by the villages, young and old to cross the path. Surprisingly, there were no record of anyone slipped and fall to a certain death into the river.
My parent was telling me about the story when the British planes were bombing the bridge in 1941 in the effort to slow the Japanese movement to Singapore.


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History

Bukit Betong was the center of the Malay  administration of west Pahang. Before the arrival of the British Colonial power in the middle of 1800, the Pahang State were divided according to the rivers tributaries. The sultan's represetative, Tok Raja lives at Bukit Betong. He used to have the administrative and judicial power over the Jelai tributaries. Of course, he is of lesser importance now. He does not have any power as he used to before. His position is only as a symbol without any authorities.

Now Bukit Betong had shrank from what it was, a center of the local trade, with about 10 thriving shops to 1. Most people, if there are needs to go to Kuala Lipis will travel by road, bypassing Bukit Betong.

Back to Home Page: http://kuala-lipis-pahang.blogspot.com/

Rumah Rakit Kuala Lipis

Rumah Rakit or House on the Rafts, were once the popular attraction of Kuala Lipis. During its popular time, there about 10 raft houses in the river. The houses were just like any other traditional Malaysian houses on land, with bedrooms kichen and living room, except the house was built on a set of bamboo rafts. It was anchored to big trees on the bank. Double planks of wood were used as a walkway from the bank to the floating house. As the level of the river rises or falls, the walking planks have to adjusted accordingly.

The attraction of rumah rakit was just like the attraction of the animals at the zoo.People dont really like the animals, except for the joy of observing it. It was the same for rumah rakit, people like to see because it was different. They would not like to stay in it, as, although the raft houses were situated in a town, they devoid the basic amenities of running water and electricity.
   
It was not known, how it started. What actually motivated the people to build the house on the bamboo raft, as land was not in acute shortage. It was so peculiar, and you cannot really find it in another part of the country. I could only suspect that it was related to the group of Malays who live on the in certain part of Indonesia.

The set of rafts made from bamboo, become the float. he supplies of bamboos was not a problem, as bamboo grew freely on the banks. At that was needed was to cut it down and throw them into the river, gather and transport them to the raft. When I was young, I was wondering how the house kept afloat as I knew the bamboo will not last long. After about 3 years, it will slowly lost its buoyancy as the bamboo began to crack. I was told that the bamboo can be replaced, piece by piece.

The people from Kelantan used live in the rafts. They were small scale traders, called 'peraih' in the local dialect. The brought goods from Kelantan, things such as Thai rice, food and keropok and sold them on the street. They also supplied sea food. like fish, crabs and prawn to the local market.

Lately, for the last 10 years, the raft house started to disappear. It started when the local authorities, saw the potential of the raft house as tourist attraction. So they decided to take advantage of it and built the modern rumah rakit and turn it into Hotel and chalets. The project failed miserably. And from then onwards, the rumah rakit, once a symbol of Kuala Lipis, was phased out of existence.


Back to Home Page: http://kuala-lipis-pahang.blogspot.com/

Kuala Lipis Hotel

Kuala Lipis used to be the transition point for peoples travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Kelantan. Before 1975, due to the absence of a good road system, Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Lipis was by bus and to Kelantan by train. As the connection to kelantan is only once per day, a traveler will be likely to spend a night in kuala lipis.Due to this, the small town has a number of hotels, not rated though, but sufficient and rather cheap.

Some of the hotels are:

Hotels	rating	Min Rate	Loaction
De' Rakit Kuala Lipis	N/A	45.00	town
Jelai Hotel. Kuala Lipis	N/A	40.00	town
Lipis Inn Sdn. Bhd. Kuala Lipis	N/A	153.00	town
London Hotel Kuala Lipis	N/A	23.00	town
Pan Holiday Hotel Kuala Lipis	N/A	50.00	town
Paris Hotel Kuala Lipis	N/A	15.00	town
Rest House Bukit Resident Kuala Lipis	N/A	40.00	town
Rumah Persinggahan K. Lipis Kuala Lipis	N/A	35.00	town
Sri Pahang Hotel Kuala Lipis	N/A	38.00	town

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Lipis Centrepoint Hotel‎- more info »
Level 5, Lipis Centrepoint, Jalan Pekeliling, Kuala Lipis, Pahang 27200‎ - 09-312-2688‎
Category: Hotels (Pahang)
5 reviews
"Centrepoint, as it's name goes, is centrally located in the heart of ..."‎

Rest House Bukit Resident‎- more info »
132, Jalan Bukit Resident, Kuala Lipis, Pahang 27200‎ - 09-312-2788‎
Category: Hotels (Pahang)

Jelai Hotel‎- more info »
No. 7, Jalan Rumah Rehat, Kuala Lipis, Pahang 27200‎ - 09-3132598‎
Category: Hotels (Pahang

Kuala Lipis - A Colonial Town of the Past

As Kuala Lipis was the capital of British Pahang in 1800 to 1953, it has a number of buildings act as reminder to its past.

The State Mosque was built by a trader from Yemen in 1888 with the Indonesia Architecture, resemblance to the Minangkabau buildings in Sumatra. Th mosque is at the further end of the town. Although it is still in good condition, it is no longer used as a mosque, as a new and build replacement was built about 15 years ago.

Kuala Lipis is known to produce a number a leaders for the country. Among the famous Malaysian are, the present Prime Minister, Najib Razak, Ghazali Shafie, the former Home Minister, a wri ter, Ishak Haji Mohamad and the latest is the Singer, Siti Nurhaliza.

Lipis District
It used to be th biggest district in Pahang, until the District of Jerantut was created taken the bigger portion of Lipis. Now it is the third biggest district with land area of 527,861 hektar. The bigger portion is still covered by virgin jungle and the natural habitat of wild lifes. The rivers are still unpolluted with rapids and waterfalls that can be the natural attractions to the visitors.

There are at least 14 historical buildings, like The Clifford School, The post office, The States Secretary Official Resident and the mosque.

The Railway Station was the biggest in the East Coast with thousands of workers, mainly from India. It was built by the British for two basic purposes, to transport the natural resources from as far as Kota Baru in Kelantan and bring them down to Singapore. The rail also served for the political agenda, extending the influence of the British.

Smk Clifford School

SMK Clifford, or Sekolah Menengah Clifford, is situated in Kuala Lipis, Malaysia. As Kuala Lipis was the former British capital of Pahang, the school was the first to be setup in Pahang. If you are visiting Kuala Lipis for the first time, you may like to visit The Clifford School and see the British architecture.  However, the access is limited, as like any school in  Malaysia, it is fenced and the gate is closed after office hour. During office hour, you may visit the school.

The school is strategically located, situated on the bank of a river  in Kuala Lipis. From the school, you can catch the view of Pahang Club, across the field  and the District Administrative building on the adjacent hill.

 If you are driving towards Kuala Lipis, the school will be on your right, across a large field, about 1 km from the town center.  It seem to be an ordinary school, but it is replete with histories. Being the first English school in Pahang, it became a place to educate some of the elites. It is also recognized as an historical building inherited from the British in early 1900.

During the Japanese occupation in 1940, Kuala Lipis became the center of administration for Japanese in Pahang. Then the school was turned into a military head quarters and the classrooms became a place or torture and execution.


Fact Sheets about the SMK Clifford:

• SMK Clifford is one of the premier school in Malaysia, the buildings and set up was a heritage left by the British. 
• Two of the existing block, the oldest portion of the school is pronounced as the listed as historical building by the Museum and Antiquity Department of Malaysia.
• SMK Clifford was upgraded to Special School in 1966, with students intake for year 4 to year 6.
• From 2006, it was considered as smart school.

The school started as an English School, using the British curriculum. The students set for O level and A level. In late 1960s, the lower secondary school was given to be be managed by another school. With the change of Malaysian School Curriculum, the Clifford School is a fully in Malaysian Language.

Tour Program To Promote Kuala Lipis

A program was designed to promote Kuala Lipis as a tourist destination. This is timely as currently a lot of the Malaysian only know Kuala Lipis as the birth place of Siti Nurhaliza, one on the well known singer of Malaysia. Not many are aware of the attractions of Kuala Lipis, a town with abundant of natural endowment with the natural jungles are thousands of years old. It was also the capital of Pahang before it was moved in Kuantan in 1955.

In the effort to promote Kuala Lipis, KTMB (Malayan Railway) and Pahang Tourist board jointly organised a program inviting journalist to spend 5 days in Kuala Lipis, tour the town and its surroundings and promote it through writings in various papers.

The group departed from Kuala Lumpur, Sentral Station. The visitors were taken to visit the historic buildings left by the British. A jungle tour was also organised where they went to visit Kenong Jungle Park.

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Kuala Lipis is a town situated in the district bearing similar name in Pahang, a state in Malaysia known for abundant of tropical rain forest, untouched by human for millions of years.

It was the state capital from 1890 to 1955, when Pahang was under the administration of the British, before it was transferred to Kuantan. This had made Kuala Lipis, rich in history and heritage.

Realising the potential, The Pahang Tourist Board and Malayan Railways had joined efforts to promote Kuala Lipis as a Tourist Destination for eco-tourism.A group of media and local tourist agents were sponsored to experience the visit from 26 to 30 January 2010. They were then, to promote it to both the local and overseas visitors.The program named "Lets Visit Lipis" started from KL Sentral Railway Station, where the guests were introduced to 'Malayan Railway' hospitality in their trip to Kuala Lipis.

The five day program brought the journalist to personally feel the natural beauty of heritage town and venture its natural lushed jungle.

The natural resources had brought the British to select Kuala Lipis as the capital,the other reason, which not quoted was, political. The British was having strong supports from the local leaders. Pahang at that time were  following the old system of hierarchy of power. Being the state capital, you can find a lot of historical buildings in the town, which you cannot find in other towns in Pahang.  These buildings are still in good condition and
in used for its function.

Among the buildings are the Clifford School, built in 1913. The District Office located on a hill overlooking the school built in 1919. The Resident's House on the Resident's Hill (1922), The State Mosque (1888) and Post Office (1910).

The Clifford School has an history of its own. Officially opened by Hugh Clifford, the British Resident to Pahang in 1929. The original school was damaged by the big flood on 1926, thus a replacement had to be built. It was the first school to conduct the class for  School Certificate in 1936. During the time of Japanese occupation in 1940's, the school became the administration headquarter, and it became a place on interrogation and torture. What is unique, the original buildings are still in good condition and in use today.

The state mosque was built, with the foundation and lower half from brick. It is still in good condition, although, it is no longer used for congregation prayers. It was built by 122 years ago by a local Arab traders by the name of Habib Hassan. It had mixed architecture of Minangkabau and Melayu touches.

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Dalam pada itu, mungkin ramai juga terlupa bahawa Lipis telah melahirkan dua orang tokoh pemimpin negara yang amat dihormati dan disegani iaitu Perdana Menteri Malaysia kedua Tun Abdul Razak serta anak beliau yang kini ialah Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak.

Malah sehingga kini kediaman tempat kelahiran Najib masih lagi berdiri kukuh dan boleh dikunjungi oleh para pelancong.

Bagi penggemar hidupan semulajadi, Lipis juga tidak akan mengecewakan anda. Keindahan flora dan faunanya pasti memikat pengunjung untuk terus merehatkan minda di sini.

Ciri-ciri alam semula jadi seperti hutan simpan, kehidupan liar, aliran sungai, air terjun, jeram, tasik, gua dan gunung menjanjikan ketenangan jiwa kepada para pengunjung.

Antaranya ialah Taman Rimba Kenong yang memiliki keunikan hutan hujan tropika berusia lebih 130 juta tahun.

Di sini pelancong boleh melihat Keunikan formasi geologi rangkaian 20 buah gua batu kapur, kawasan sejarah kepahlawanan Melayu dan tempat penemuan pelbagai bahan purba.

Taman Rimba Kenong terletak 32 kilometer dari Kuala Lipis. Pengunjung boleh memilih untuk sampai ke sini sama ada dengan menggunakan jalan darat atau sungai.

Perjalanan darat mengambil masa lebih kurang 40 minit dengan menaiki kenderaan pacuan empat roda, sementara perjalanan menaiki bot panjang melalui sungai dari jeti Tanjung Kiara di Kuala Lipis memakan masa selama satu jam setengah.

Dikatakan hampir 13 peratus tumbuh-tumbuhan di Semenanjung Malaysia yang menjangkau 1,200 spesies wujud di habitat ini.

Aktiviti berjalan malam yang boleh diadakan di taman ini memberi peluang kepada pengunjung untuk melihat pelbagai hidupan liar seperti landak, kijang, rusa, tapir, gajah dan lain-lain lagi.

Namun, ketika melakukan aktiviti ini, terdapat peraturannya. Antaranya para pengunjung akan diminta tidak berbuat bising bagi mengelakkan haiwan takut dan berasa terancam.

Selain itu, apabila kita berada di dalam keadaan yang sunyi dan tenang maka keindahan panorama malam itu akan lebih dihayati tambahan lagi apabila kita hanya ditemani cahaya bulan, kilauan mata-mata binatang dapat disaksikan di sepanjang perjalanan.

Oleh sebab itu, semasa aktiviti itu penggunaan lampu suluh adalah tidak digalakkan.

Gua-gua batu kapur yang terdapat di Taman Rimba itu juga disifatkan sebagai sesuatu yang bersejarah kerana selain kewujudannya sejak Zaman Batu lagi, ia juga menyimpan sejarah kepahlawanan Melayu ketika menentang penjajahan Inggeris. Ia dikatakan telah menjadi tempat persembunyian Tok Bahaman ketika menentang Residen Inggeris, Sir Hugh Clifford.

Keindahan stalagmit dan stalaktit dalam pelbagai bentuk pasti akan mempersonakan para pengunjung. Antara gua yang tercantik di sini ialah Gua Batu Tinggi kerana menjadi habitat kepada pelbagai spesies orkid liar.

Di bawah gua ini juga terdapat sebatang sungai yang mengalir jernih dan tenang yang dinamakan Sungai Kenong. Pengunjung-pengunjung boleh menyusuri sungai yang tenang ini menggunakan tiub tayar untuk melawat sekitar dalam gua.

Di samping itu, rimba ini juga menawarkan pelbagai aktiviti lasak lain seperti merentas sungai, menuruni cerun bukit dan memanjat pokok menggunakan tali.Kepada yang tidak gentar dengan ketinggian ataupun yang ingin mencuba keberanian mereka, taman ini menyediakan 'Canopy Walk' yang berketinggian 20 meter dengan panjang kira-kira 100 meter.